Letters146 Letter CXLVI. To Burchard, abbot of balerne.

Bernard rejoices that his efforts to train Burchard to the Religious life have not been in vain; the happy issue is to be attributed to God alone.

1. Your style has been filled with fire and power, and with that fire, too, which the Lord has sent on the earth. I read your letter, and my heart burned within me; I blessed that furnace from whence such sparks had flown forth. Did not your heart burn within you as you dictated such words? A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things. If I laboured for you, as you humbly say, I rejoice at it. I ploughed, in hope, no doubt, of receiving fruit, and my hope has not deceived me. Lo, with the fruit of my works my heart is satisfied in a strange land; and I see by experience that my seed has not fallen by the wayside, nor on stony ground, nor amongst thorns, but into a good and fertile soil. And if I had sorrow when I brought them forth, yet now I remember no more the travail, for joy that a child has been born into the world. A child, I mean, in malice, not in understanding; one whom the Saviour could set forward for an example to the old, saying, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (S. Matt, xviii. 3); such a child as can say, am wiser than the aged, because I have sought Thy commandments (Ps. cxix. 100); and, am small and despised, yet do I not forget Thy precepts (Ps. cxix. 141).

2. I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. By Thy will, not by their merits are they what they are. For Thou dost not come to find, but goest before to give merit. We all have sinned, and need to be prevented by grace. Do thou, then, my brother, acknowledge that thou hast been prevented, and prevented with the blessings of goodness, not by me, who am nothing, but by Him who, by His holy inspiration, prevented me, and so caused me to warn thee to save thyself. For. to attribute a great deal to myself, I planted, I watered; but without Him who giveth the increase, what am I? To Him in all humility submit thyself, to Him with utmost devotion cling. Use me as His servant, thy fellow servant, thy companion in the way, thy future co-heir in our country, that is to say, if I shall have faithfully fulfilled the ministry to which I was sent on your behalf, and if I shall have done what I could to enable you to lay hold of the inheritance of salvation. This is my answer to your complaint. I will occupy myself with your necessities as my own when I come.